Taming the Lone Wolf (8 page)

“What about me?” Rose demanded. She stood beside the bed fully dressed, her shirt on inside out, tugging at the sheet that covered them.

Tess looked at Stony, and they grinned at each other. He reached down and scooped Rose up in one arm and pulled her close to include her in their hug.

“I love you, too, Rose,” he said, his dark eyes focused on Tess.

Tess knew what it meant for him to make such an admission. Knew it was only the beginning for them all. There would be no need for her and Rose to leave now. The future loomed before them, bright and shining.

“Are you going to be my daddy?” Rose said.

Tess looked to Stony for his answer, her heart in her eyes.
Say yes,
she willed him.
We come together as a package. It won't mean leftovers. I have plenty of love for both of you.

He cleared his throat before he spoke, prolonging the moment, a wary wolf until the very end. Then he
surprised her, because she had really thought he was going to say yes.

He said maybe.

“We'll see, Rose,” Stony said. “We'll have to see.”

Tess was startled—almost alarmed—at how quickly Stony extricated himself from their cozy cuddle. “What's the hurry?” she asked.

“I've got to get going,” he said. “I have to be in Jackson by noon.”

Since it was early morning and Jackson Hole only an hour's drive away, his excuse didn't make much sense. Maybe everything was moving too fast. Maybe he didn't trust her not to give him leftover love. Or maybe he was being forced into a commitment he didn't really want to make. Whatever it was, she felt the lone wolf retreating from her.

“Why don't you go into the kitchen and get out the orange juice,” she said to Rose. “Then wait for me, and I'll help you pour it into the glasses.”

“Okay, Mama,” Rose said.

Tess heard her trotting down the hall. “Can you drop me off in town before you leave?” she asked Stony. “I have some errands to run. I can get a ride back from Harry.”

“Why is Harry so willing to give you all these rides?” he said, stepping out of bed and yanking on a pair of jeans.

“Because he's my friend,” she said. “Why else?” She got out of bed herself, because that was no place to argue with a man.

“I don't know,” he said, plainly irritated as he buttoned up his fly. “Why don't you tell me?”

“Are you trying to start an argument?” she asked, fisted hands perched on her hips. “Because if you are, I'll be more than happy to give you one.”

“Am I about to see that famous redheaded temper of yours?” he snarled. “I've been waiting four months for it to erupt. I knew it was only a matter of time.”

He was purposely provoking her, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. “I suppose you don't have any foibles.”

“My foibles never bothered anybody when I lived alone.”

“That can easily be arranged again!” She shot the words back. She was heartsick, listening to herself. She didn't want to leave him. She loved him. But he must want her to leave. Otherwise, he would never have started this argument. Unless there was something else.

“What's wrong, Stony? What is it you aren't telling me?”

Tell her now! Dammit, tell her.

He couldn't. He was too scared. Happiness of a kind he had never imagined was in his grasp. He couldn't take the chance of losing it.

“Dammit, what do you want from me?” he raged.

“I want an answer!” she retorted, easily as infuriated as he was.

He grabbed her arms and pulled her to him, capturing her mouth with his, his tongue thrusting possessively between her teeth. His palms cupped her
buttocks, and he dragged her up the front of him until his hard length was pressed against her. She wasn't nearly close enough. He jerked her panties down, tore open the buttons of his jeans and shoved down his underwear until he was free.

He lifted her legs around his hips and thrust inside her, deep and tight. He gripped her buttocks as he drove into her, hard and fast, reaching a climax only seconds later.

He felt the weight of her as his senses returned. She was trembling in his arms. Her breathing was as ragged as his, and he could see the rapid pulse pounding in her throat.

He eased her legs away from his sides and disengaged them, because his knees were threatening to buckle.

It was only then he realized he hadn't used a condom.

He always used a condom. Because he didn't want kids, didn't like kids. Only, Tess had made him realize that was another lie. One he had told himself for years.

“Tess, I...”

“Don't say anything.”

“I'm sorry,” he said anyway.

Her eyes slid closed, and she clung to him. It took him a moment to realize her knees were threatening to buckle, too.

“Sit down before you fall down,” he said, urging her onto the bed. He rearranged his clothing and picked up her silky underwear from the floor where
it had fallen and handed it to her. When she didn't take it, he dropped it on the bed beside her.

She sat unmoving. Silent.

He didn't know what had come over him to make him take her like that, without warning. Her continued silence scared him even worse than her anger. “Tess, we'll talk about this when I get back, all right?”

She didn't answer him.

He gripped her chin and forced her to look at him. “You'll be here when I get back.” It was an order. One he was afraid she would defy.

She remained mute.

He let go of her chin, and paced before her like an animal in a cage. “Look, I couldn't stand the thought of Harry DuBois pawing you like your boss.”

She looked up at him, her brow deeply furrowed. “Harry is nothing like Bud. He's my friend. That's all we are to each other.”

“Then you'll come back here and wait for me after you've finished your errands in town?” he asked anxiously.

“You'll have to give me a ride into town first,” she said with the beginning of a smile.

“About...about what happened,” he said, his hand plowing its way through his hair. “I...I don't know what came over me.”

She glanced up at him coyly. “If I didn't know better, I'd think you were jealous of Harry DuBois.”

He grabbed at the excuse she had given him for his behavior and managed a sheepish grin. Maybe he had been a little jealous. “You belong to me,” he said.
“Be here, Tess.”

“I'll be here when you get back,” she promised.

* * *

T
ESS HAD
fully intended to keep her promise to Stony when she made it. She hadn't counted on finding out the dreadful secret he had kept from her for more than four months.

Stony had killed Charlie.

She had gone to Harry's office to ask for a ride home, and he had seen the love bruise on her throat that Stony had put there during their tempestuous lovemaking that morning.

“Why do you stay with him, Tess?” Harry demanded. “I've told you time and again the man's dangerous.”

“Not to me,” she replied with a smug smile. “Come on, Harry,” she said, slipping her arm through his. “Have a piece of pie with me at the Buttermilk Café before I pick up Rose from Mrs. Feeny. Then you can drive us home.”

“All right, Tess. Against my better judgment, I'll give you a ride back up to his place.”

They were settled in a booth with a slice of the buttermilk pie for which the café was famous in front of them when Harry said, “How soon do you think you'll be coming back to town? There's an apartment coming available in the complex over by the hospital next week.”

“I don't think I'll be coming back to town,” Tess said.

“You'll have to, once you get a job.”

“I don't think I'll be looking for a job in Pinedale.”

“What are you talking about?” Harry asked. “What's going on, Tess?”

“I think I'll be staying at Stony's cabin. With him.”

“You'd actually consider living with him indefinitely? When you won't even consider a marriage proposal from me. Explain that to me, Tess.”

Tess flushed. “He loves me, Harry. And I love him.”

“You know nothing about the man!” Harry snarled, keeping his voice down to avoid being overheard by the growing lunch crowd in the café.

“I know everything that's important to know about him.”

“Like the fact he killed your husband?” Harry snapped.

Tess's heart actually stopped beating for an instant. “That's...” She started to say impossible, but she had known for months that Stony hunted rustlers for a living. She settled instead for, “Unbelievable.”

“Believe it,” Harry said. “I don't understand why he never told you himself. I didn't think he had, or you wouldn't be in love with the man.”

“He...he was only doing his job.” She hated herself for defending Stony, when what she wanted to do was rage at him. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth to try to stop her chin from trembling.

Why hadn't Stony told her? He couldn't care for her feelings very much, or he would have confessed his part in Charlie's death long ago. He had said he loved her. Had he stretched the truth about that, too?
More likely, he just liked sleeping with her, making love to her.

“Stay in town with me, Tess. Don't go back to him. I'll take care of you. You won't have to worry about anything. You can stay at my place and keep house for me.”

“Rose doesn't like you, Harry.”

Harry snorted. “Rose is stingy with her favors, Tess. Tell me, does she like Stony?”

She hadn't, at first. She loved him now. The thought of how disappointed, how utterly heartbroken her daughter would be if she never saw Stony again, made Tess's throat constrict. It was painful to swallow the bite of pie in her mouth, but somehow she managed it. A tear scalded her cheek as it slid free. She brushed it angrily away. She wasn't about to cry over any man who could so callously lie to her.

She had been a fool again and given her trust to yet another untrustworthy man. Only this time it was infinitely worse. This time the man who had betrayed her held more than her heart. He possessed the other half of her soul.

“Tess, let me comfort you,” Harry urged. “Let me take care of you.”

“No!” she snarled across the table at him. “The last thing I'd ever do is put my life in another man's keeping. Take me back to Stony's cabin, Harry.”

“What for?”

“I want to pack mine and Rose's things.”

“Then what?”

“I have a little money saved—my salary for the past four months,” she said with a cynical twist of
her mouth. “I plan to use it to buy us tickets on the first bus that passes through town.”

“Where will you go, Tess?”

“Anywhere that takes me away from here.”

H
ARRY WAS INCENSED
at the way things were turning out. Not only had he lost his chance of getting Tess Lowell into his bed, but it was likely Stony Carlton was going to show up in the wrong place at the wrong time and spoil a real sweet thing. Damn Charlie Lowell for getting himself killed. The replacement Harry had been forced to hire to run his rustling operation wasn't nearly as reliable or as accessible. Every time he had to make contact with the man it increased the danger of getting caught himself.

It had been damn handy over the past four months having a spy in the enemy camp. Not that Tess had known the role she played. But every time she called on him for a ride into town he had known for sure that Stony was out in the field. He had promptly gotten his band of rustlers out of harm's way.

Only, this time, Stony had left home the very day Harry had scheduled a tractor trailer pickup of stolen beef. Harry wasn't sure he could get in touch with his henchman in time to warn him. He had tried phoning his contact in Jackson, but there hadn't been an answer, and he refused to leave an incriminating message on an answering machine.

Harry had no choice except to drive to the rendezvous point himself and warn his man off before it was
too late. He didn't want things spoiled too soon. A few more good runs, and he would have all the money he needed to buy himself a ranch someplace nice and warm, like Arizona.

When Harry arrived at the rendezvous, he saw the trailer was already there being loaded. He watched for a long time from seclusion, making sure there was no sign of the range detective before he drove down into the valley.

“Hey, boss,” his contact said. “What are you doing here?”

“There's trouble,” Harry said. “Stony Carlton is on the prowl. Take what you've got, and you and your men get out of here.”

“There's only a dozen more head to load, boss. Then we'll go.”

“I said now, and I meant now.”

The man opened his mouth to argue before he caught sight of Harry's hand resting on the butt of his police revolver. “Sure, boss. Whatever you say.”

It wasn't as simple as it should have been for the truck to make its escape. The rear wheels had stuck in the mud caused by melting snow. Harry had only stayed to make sure the men didn't disobey him, and he was furious when he realized they were going to have to unload the cattle already in the truck in order to break it free.

“Get the damn chute back in place,” he shouted into the truck window. “And get those cattle out of there!”

“Not so fast.”

Harry whirled and uttered a string of foul expletives.

Stony arched a brow. “Very inventive. Too bad you couldn't have used a little bit of that intelligence to avoid getting yourself into this situation in the first place.”

Harry started to reach for his gun.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you,” Stony said. “I've already had to kill one man in the past year. I'd hate like hell to make it two.”

Stony had to keep an eye on the men in the truck, which caused his gaze to waver from Harry for an instant.